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Hines Ward blames young WRs

Pittsburgh Steelers former wide receiver Hines Ward wanted to play another season and could see the Steelers young receivers needed a leader, but the team felt he could no longer perform at a high level.

Ward says the receivers youth is a big reason the Steelers went 8-8 and missed the playoffs in 2012.

"They have a bunch of young, talented guys," Ward said in a recent interview with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette. "The organization chose to go young and in a different direction. My argument was, 'Great, but I don't think any of those guys other than Mike Wallace were in crucial situations to ask them to carry the load.

"They were asked to be put into a huge role at such a young age. I had to deal with it. I was a veteran guy my second year. It's a learning curve for those guys. The transition going to next year, maybe they'll learn from their mistakes.

"I love everything about those guys. I wish them nothing but the best with those guys. ... Hopefully, the light bulb will turn on for those guys and they'll understand what the profession is on and off field.

"With A.B., Mike and Emmanuel, sometimes it takes more than work ethic. You have to put in the time both at work and home to take care of your body and your playbook."

Ward believes the defense is still good but will have to find some young stars.

"They're a team in transition, losing some of the older guys. The marquee names are getting older, and it's time for younger guys to step up.

"On defense, they're still playing good football. They'll always finish in the top five. In the secondary, Keenan Lewis had a big year, Ike Taylor is getting older, and there's a transition. You have to find some young stars to step up their play and allow them to be consistent."

Well he's not wrong...Wallace's head too big for his shoulders and not showing up for camp totally put him on my bad side.
No excuses for the extremeness of dropping passes that should have been easily caught...

I keep waiting for Sanders to take that next step but he never does......In my opinion Wallace, Brown, and Sanders all lack mental toughness and it showed on the field this year........

Desire,mental toughness, attitude, willpower, drive, fortitude, ambition just some that came to mind about the team in general not just the WRs. Sanders is gonna be a good receiver, out of the three he would've benefited most from another yr with Hines, wallace already had himself ahead of the team in OTAs so let him go whine elsewhere, AB just needs some football smarts and he would be a good one as well.

Still think they couldve held onto ward for another year or two. They dont have a leader and thats what you get. The top 3 all have their separate issues, guess well see what happens in the future. Still cant believe sanders got blown up two times in the middle and lost the ball like dejavu.. but atleast hell go up the middle and try to make the catch unlike others.. hmmm wonder who that is

"Still think they couldve held onto ward for another year or two. They dont have a leader and thats what you get. "....Agree 110&#37;! Well at least for Hines he still has that competitive fire hell he's going for the triple crown. Lombardi, Mirror Ball and I guess a golden spatula when he wins the celebrity cooking show, the guy is freaking awesome. Pretty sure the only thing he's gonna get in the Ironman is a pat on the back and thanks for coming